OPINION: Wake up, it is 2015! Who is running the asylum?

Bill HoffmanWhether taking on developers hell-bent on destroying the Coast’s natural appeal or a Prime Minister indifferent to the plight of the poor, Bill Hoffman has never been one to mince his words. Bill’s been a journalist for 32 years, 29 of those on the Coast. Love him or hate him, he'll get you blogging.

I WATCHED television coverage at the weekend of heated clashes between people arguing for marriage equality and those claiming to represent Australian values.

It got ugly with police on horseback trying to calm the mobs, but it was also hilarious and providing of somepowerful insight.

One bloke complained belligerently about being criticised as a racist just for expressing his opinion.

He appeared ignorant of the reality that his opinions were racist.

An elderly woman on the opposing side told a reporter that none of us should forget that fascism always starts small. It was a history lesson that, in a year when we remember those lost to old battles, should never be forgotten.

Australia is in the process of making a decision. Some would say it has already been made, but I'm more optimistic than that.

We have at a federal level a government whose primary purpose, having gained power after six years of negativity, appears to be hanging on to it at whatever cost.

And we have a Prime Minister who is willing in his language and policy positions to exploit this country's racist underbelly to do so.

I struggle to even comprehend how in 2015 we can have a Prime Minister comfortably willing to describe the impoverished state of desert dwelling Aborigines as a "lifestyle choice".

And I've been genuinely shocked to hear a proud indigenous sportsman like Adam Goodes, castigated for the manner in which he celebrated a goal.

Social media is full of ignorance-fuelled bile alleging that Aborigines and refugees are somehow especially advantaged at the expense of pensioners and ex-service personnel.

Many appear more comfortable in that ignorance than willing to accept the truth of our history.

They're not helped by leadership that exploits and incites that ignorance for the short-term prospect of a vote or by an Opposition Leader in Bill Shorten who appears more comfortable being in lock step with the Coalition than trusting the electorate with an alternative to a brutally inhumane response to the globe's refugee crisis and who appears unwilling to truly engage with indigenous issues.

Prime Minister Abbott has signalled that his government can only handle one issue at a time. It can't walk and chew gum. It is beyond it to prepare a budget and consider minor legislative changes that would allow same-sex marriage.

What governments are even doing in that space is beyond me.

Neither is there a need for Bill Shorten's earnestness on issue. Both just should fix an injustice and move on.

Racism and sexual discrimination should have no place in a modern Australia. Nor should a completely selfish disregard for the plight of people reaching out for our help.

Until we acknowledge our history and the cost borne by the world's oldest continuing culture to create it, we will never be truly comfortable in this place we call home.

Sorry was never enough and constitutional recognition in itself will never seal that deal.

Only leadership and education will ever banish the old prejudices that still sees an Australian of the Year as Goodes is, booed for it every time he takes to the pitch, and sees the helpless banished in their hour of greatest need to prison camps where children are locked up and abused.

That's Australia in 2015 and no self-serving justification can ever change that undeniable fact.

We can allow that to be what we are or we can, in a democracy, choose to change those things that diminish us.

The choice is ours. For the sake of all Australians I hope it's not one that's already been made.